An example of a domestic appliance as mentioned in the opening paragraph is an appliance which is adapted to perform a shaving process, i.e. a process of removing hairs from skin by cutting through the hairs at a position close to the skin, and which comprises a shaving unit having at least one cutting member. Such a shaving appliance is known, for example, from WO 2006/067710. Besides the shaving unit, the known shaving appliance comprises a handle. The shaving unit of the known shaving appliance comprises three rotatably arranged cutting members in a triangular formation. The cutting members are driven by a single shaft which protrudes from the handle, and which is positioned centrally with respect to the cutting members. Furthermore, the drive shaft is driven by a motor which is accommodated in the handle, possibly together with suitable transmission and/or reduction means.
In one embodiment of the known shaving appliance, each cutting member is provided with a gear wheel at one side, and the drive shaft is provided with a primary gear wheel which is arranged to engage the respective gear wheels of the cutting members. In this way, it is achieved that upon rotation of the drive shaft, the primary gear wheel of the drive shaft will drive the gear wheels of the cutting members, thereby rotating the cutting members.
It is desirable to have a shaving unit which is equipped with other components besides the cutting members, in particular electric components for performing peripheral functions. A well-known example of such components is a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for emitting ultra violet rays for killing germs which are present in the shaving unit, especially on the cutting members. In this respect, it is noted that it is known from US 2004/0194316 to have per cutting member a plurality of LEDs which are located on a top surface of the handle and around a drive shaft protruding from the handle. However, providing the shaving appliance known from WO 2006/067710 with LEDs in this way would not yield much effect, as a structure for supporting the cutting members would very much hinder the ultra violet rays on their way to the cutting members.